The article looks at the ongoing problems of these rooftop ragers, where partygoers have been known to climb/leap from building to building.
On May 22, 24-year-old Cameron Perrelli reportedly slipped and fell while climbing up from 202 Avenue A to the roof next door at 200 Avenue A.
Her death prompted local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera to introduce a bill that would ensure enforcement agencies have easier access to phone numbers of overnight building supers or contacts and require better oversight of rooftop use and capacity. (She has already introduced Intro 1292, which would require tenants to sign and acknowledge their understanding of the city's noise codes.)
The Curbed piece wonders how effective the new bill could be...
Rivera's newest proposal has its potential limitations, especially in the East Village, where many rooftop spaces would not require a certificate of occupancy. Under current DOB rules, only spaces that can hold 75 or more people or host events involving “excessive noise, vibration and other nuisances” need one. Smaller rooftops must meet other safety requirements, like having a code-compliant railing and exit signs, but the certificate is not required.And there's another issue with putting an end to the rooftop parties...
Longtime East Village residents say those young renters only stay for a few years, and the constant turnover makes it harder to actually make any headway on tamping down the parties.
"You can't really control it, because every time you get some tiny grip on the situation, there's a whole bunch of new residents," says Nicholas Peate, who lives on East 7th Street. Both Peate and [Robert] La Force are so fed up with the constant loud parties, they are thinking of moving out.
"They market [these apartments] as a sort of a luxury frat house, that's the issue," Peate says. "So basically, they say, 'You're here, you're entitled, you're wealthy, you're white, and you can just do whatever the fuck you want.'"
Reader-submitted photos: 330 E. 6th St. (top); 100 Avenue A
Previously on EV Grieve:
• Neighbors address the rooftop parties at this 6th Street building
• Department of Buildings: 202 Avenue A does not have a 'valid certificate of occupancy'
23 comments:
what is not discussed in these articles is that if you have people on a roof you need to have a roof deck or some or composite roof tiles on the roof! If you don't have these things to protect the roof - then a bunch of people on a roof will easily break the seal on the roof and create leaks and other damage .
I am baffled why the building are not just telling people they can't go on the roof because it is not made to support a bunch of people on the roof .
Witnessing what appeared to be a crowd of 50-100 people at a rooftop party last week on Second Avenue (between 5th & 6th St) it was obvious how dangerous it was. People leaning against and sitting on the parapet. Dozens of people literally jumping up and down to the beat of the obnoxiously loud music booming through the neighborhood. Teens and young adults carrying six-packs entering the building in groups of 5 & 6 at a time. After calling 311 and being notified to call 911 it then took 40 minutes for two police officers to pull up in their vehicle (they could have just walked two officers from the 9th Pct, around the corner, much faster.) 15 minutes later, the music stopped, the officers left and the party animals exited the building, creating a nuisance on the street, but at least they were not going to get injured or killed.
I agree with the tenants mentioned here- cracking down on CofOs is not enough. Many of us are dealing with landlords/management companies of smaller buildings in the East Village who complain city regulations tie their hands when it comes to dealing with their noisy roof and backyard tenants. The answer is simple: DON'T PROVIDE TENANT ACCESS TO THESE AREAS.
Rivera's will not do anything serious regarding this health and quality of life issue because her campaign is funded by developers. We need to vote her out, please vote for Erin Hussein or Carlina Rivera will doom our neighborhood to a future of transient frat boys.
It’s not going to stop unfortunately. I don’t mind the rooftop parties so long as it’s over by 11:00pm or midnight.
There is only one major variable that will determine whether the constant stream of young people will continue to flow into NYC like the ones shown at these rooftop gatherings. Careerism in a major urban area means jobs must be executed via going into an office building which creates an entire industry that intertwines with work, real estate and hedonism in the city. So powerful is this variable that it literally defines other industries like our public transit, restaurants and cultural institutions which creates another industry that rivals this variable, namely, tourism.
The recent news of a company like Morgan Stanley offering higher salaries to it workers as a way to encourage them to return to NYC who have left the city during the height of the pandemic is one method to reestablish the existing status quo and opting out of telecommuting. By allowing the existing status quo to enforce our pre-pandemic commute-work culture just reinforces more young people to come to NYC and try make it here and often befriending those who have the means to host a few rooftop gatherings.
Rivera's bill sounds paper thin. Without significant fines for the landlords nothing will happen.
Landlord of my tenement building in Chinatown just converted two apartments into a duplex and added a roofdeck, which according to DOB was against the approved plans (which just allowed internal renovations to the two apartments). Very much the frat house model. There was a complaint about the deviation from approved plans and the Fire Department also made a complaint because the roof deck has combustible wooden slats. But DOB inspectors show up, can't gain access, and the complaints get closed. According to StreetEasy the apartment has been rented, but tenants haven't moved in yet. I guess the only option is to file complaints after it's occupied and hope the new tenants let the inspectors in, but seems like nothing will happen if they don't.
I agree, the post-grad fratty douchetypes ruin it for the once in a while chill roof hang. These fucks are always yelling and blasting music and being so annoying on the roofs that everyone is sick of it.
"They market [these apartments] as a sort of a luxury frat house, that's the issue," Peate says. "So basically, they say, 'You're here, you're entitled, you're wealthy, you're white, and you can just do whatever the fuck you want.'"
I think this quote pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? It perfectly describes the mindset of the (IMO) young barbarians who now are colonizing these buildings. They behave like triumphant overlords, and if you're a non-overlord and need any quality of life, their response is: "fuck you". This is what passes for civilization in NYC in 2021.
PS: And, yes, PLEASE vote Rivera OUT!
310 East 9 St is another one. They converted the top two floors to a duplex & roof deck. I am convinced that no one actually lives there & someone just rents it out for parties. The apartment is dark for weeks at a time and then suddenly there's LIVE music and 30+ people partying. I have even seen people at these parties sitting atop the roof of the stairwell bulkhead. The Roof stairway the only Exit as the rear fire escape does not extend to the roof. Looking at floor plans on rental sites, the "guests" have to go through the both floors of the apartment to reach the stairs to the roof. It is a disaster waiting to happen. A rapid exit in an emergency is not possible. Triangle Shirtwaist ring a bell. Last time they actually had a bouncer outside on the sidewalk with a clipboard and a list as people showed up and were then let into the building. I cannot understand how this is legal!
Carlina Rivera consistently votes with developers interests- such as Governor's Island, destroying the East River Park, the tech hub and up-zoning. Don't expect anything effective or tenant-centered from her; she just running for her next job, and needs to signal to REBNY that she's willing to play ball.
Since it seems like the majority of these rooftop parties are organized by college students citizens should ask NYU and other Universities and colleges to prohibit their students from promoting large rooftop parties.
Beyond the rooftop parties being loud and causing damage to the rooftops, having dozens of people traipsing in and out of a tenement building all night is also a major disturbance for the tenants. When someone has one of these ragers, it is a constant stream of people clomping up and down the stairs, drunkenly yelling and laughing, stopping in front of our doors to share a beer and chat at 3 a.m. If there was ever a fire during one of these ragers we would have to compete with 60 other people, mostly drunk people, crowding our narrow, steep stairwells to get out of the building. I don't know why the fire department isn't part of ending these parties.
Its not just the rooftops but the 'luxurized' backyards being marketed as party pads. Its just another step of hypergentrification - being used to drive out the long term residents - no one can really live on restaurant row E 6th st anymore - its a circus - never ending construction in back of 329-333 E 5th St - happy drunk diners until 10 and the red cup brained morons are shouting like dogs tied up in a barren backyard until 3 am basically every night of the week lately. they seem to want adult attention very badly.
@2:48pm: You make an excellent point. Some years back, we had, in our small walk-up building, a subtenant from hell - someone who'd lied when interviewed as a potential subtenant: you'd have thought he was a boy scout, but he turned out to be someone with both a drug & an alcohol problem, and he held parties multiple times a week in his apartment - didn't matter to him if it was a weeknight or a weekend; it was all the same to him.
For an entire YEAR, all of us in the building had to deal with his "friends", who were always loud, drunk and mouthy. They'd be yelling to each other in the public hallways at 2 or 3 am. There was one time I got dressed, went out & literally PUSHED one fucking loud jerk OUT of the building in the middle of the night & locked the door behind him. He kept drunkenly insisting he was about to leave, but was only waiting for his "friend" to come down and leave with him.
YES, THE FDNY should have 100% authority to ACT immediately in these situations, particularly since, as is often said, the FDNY "has the keys" to EVERY building in NYC, as it were. They'll break down every door in their way & toss every would-be bouncer into the gutter if necessary.
While Rivera and the Pols are front promoting the safety aspect of this issue which will hopefully lead to no more kids falling from rooftops or fire escapes it's only one aspect of the issue perhaps it's the swifter way through the channels to get enforceable reg's passed and end that bit of this madness
What confuses is that the noise issue is already a law! you can't broadcast amplified sound without a permit ANYWHERE in NYC. Good to read 8:01AM got some relief from NYPD
The real Shame is that NYPD could've nipped this issue in the bud years ago by shutting these parties down before this explosion of them thumped our world and killed kids
the terrorizing rumble of thump that has taken over the last couple of years (this is a pre-covid problem) that's just gotten worse since covid turning our Neighborhood into a unlivable nightmare for those in the pathway of the "acoustic wave" sound travels in very different and often strange ways it took us over a year to find the source of a every weekend booming into our ground floor flat it was from a roof party across the courtyard but felt yes felt and sounded like it was next door, 1:10 mentioned the abomination that is 310 east 9th but sometimes it's actually 312 9th due to the acoustic wave it's seems like it's 310 just awful
my long winded (sorry and thank you Grieve) point in mentioning the wave is that folks like 10:24 who say as long as it's over by a certain time aren't in the peak of acoustic wave and that anytime of day booming loud music shouldn't be allowed for the most part the pandemic is done rooftops, terraces and back decks can be replaced by properly sound proofed bars and clubs so the developers clients aka "the kids" can get their groove on and those of us who actually have kids and or gotta work weekend mornings get get the sleep we need or just enjoy a bit of quiet in the evening
It's doesn't help that legit outfits like the Swiss Institute are having rooftop events with music loud enough to be heard on the street and next door ( last night over by 10pm but annoying ) giving the impression to the kids that it's ok to broadcast amplified sound neighbors be damned
Back in the day, you could ask a neighbor to keep it down, and they would comply out of a sense of community. These days, I get in shouting matches with young white dudes who don't even live in my building. They are here to party with a friend downstairs from me, and they don't want to be told to keep the noise down. I finally gave up. I don't want to get punched in the face or shoved down the stairs by one of these angry frat boys. It's disappointing that Carlina Rivera has only jumped into the fray now and is only concerned with their safety. What about us? The people who live here and are tortured by these spoiled brats. No one has cared about us for years.
Just wait til the 4th
" hopefully lead to no more kids falling from rooftops or fire escapes "
These aren't kids! They're legal adults making these choices.
Given that De Blasio believes that the fine young citizens who populate Washington Square Park nightly and engage in drugs, drinking, fighting, littering, amplified music, and various other levels of debauchery and criminality aren’t so bad. Why would anyone rationally believe that curtailing rooftop parties would be a government priority.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdBDuC3G/
Use spray bottles of liquid ass, from Amazon. We used it at our building on 6th & B. Gets them screaming out of the building!!
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